The city council of Norfolk, Va.: Ban the use of bullhooks in the city of Norfolk, Va.

The bullhook is a weapon used by trainers on the elephants in circuses to control and punish them. It is barbaric and should be stopped.

Letter to

Office of city council and Mayor Paul D. FraimNorfolk city council

A bullhook has only one use, to inflict pain and induce fear. A bullhook is a rod with a sharp metal hook or spike which is used on elephants by handlers and trainers to maintain dominence over the elephant and constantly goad them into submission such as you might see at Ringling Bros. or Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. circuses. They use the bullhook to jab, beat, gouge and hook sensitive areas of the elephants bodies such as behind the ears, around the eyes, feet, anus and vagina which causes a great deal of pain. The "tricks" they perform are never done naturally in the wild. They are conditioned to do these unnatural acts by violent training while they are babies and the abuse continues into and throughout their miserable lives in the circus by using the bullhook. The baby you see in the picture was taken away from its Mother and is now being "trained". An elephant will be punished severly if they do not comply with the demands of the trainer and an elephant has a very good memory. An elephant CANNOT be controlled without the use of a bullhook.The trainers will deny abuse even though we have plenty of evidence that the bullhook is a tool that is only used in a violent way. Many of the elephants you see in the circuses have scars and open wounds from being struck repeatedly with great force by the trainers. The trainers use various methods to try to cover the scars and wounds so they are less visible to the public. If we are successful in getting the bullhook banned, the circus will refuse to come to Norfolk because the bullhook is a necessary tool to control and punish the elephants. Please do not support this abuse by going to the circus and sign this petition so we can present it to the Norfolk city council. We need to get this barbaric form of abuse stopped. We urge the city council of Norfolk to completely ban the use of bullhooks in the city of Norfolk, Va.